


paws and claws

by ghosthunter



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Animal Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 03:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16360274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghosthunter/pseuds/ghosthunter
Summary: It’s not that Sasha doesn’t love what he does, and that he doesn’t look forward to coming back to work, it’s just that everything is so dramatic on Monday mornings. Burky’s on the phone when Sasha walks through the door, and turns a pleading look on Sasha that Sasha ignores as he passes straight through the reception area and into the back.There’s half a pot of coffee left for Sasha to avail himself of before the meeting, which means he’s not the last one to arrive, but a lot of the regular weekday crew is there before him. Sasha is finishing pouring his cup of coffee when Dr. Backstrom comes through the doors.“It’s Monday,” he says by way of greeting, and Sasha nods, sipping his cup of coffee. He salutes Sasha with his travel mug as he heads into the office he and Sasha share. Sasha trails after him. “One morning we’re going to come in here and he’s going to be curled up under his desk crying.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i had like, 3k on this when i signed up for HBB, so i thought "why the fuck not?" well, turns out stringing together very vivid images you have in your brain maybe doesn't make for the best fic but i hope that we all had fun here anyway. at the very least, woods_gossip at dreamwidth made some really beautiful art for it.
> 
> thanks for lanie for beta-ing. look ma, no porn! and my sincerest, deepest thank yous to woods_gossip for the truly great art that they created.

If Sasha is honest, Mondays maybe aren’t his favorite day of the week.

It’s not that Sasha doesn’t love what he does, and that he doesn’t look forward to coming back to work, it’s just that everything is so dramatic on Monday mornings. By the time Sasha gets to the office (at eight, so that they can have the weekly staff meeting before the office opens at nine), Burky’s always ready to pull his hair out, and he’s only been behind the front desk for an hour.

In spite of the ER being open all weekend for actual emergencies, every single call that comes in before noon on a Monday seems to be couched as an emergency. In fact, Burky’s on the phone when Sasha walks through the door, and turns a pleading look on Sasha that Sasha ignores as he passes straight through the reception area and into the back.

There’s half a pot of coffee left for Sasha to avail himself of before the meeting, which means he’s not the last one to arrive, but a lot of the regular weekday crew is there before him. They’ll have their regular staff meeting before they open, get the debrief from the overnight ER doc and his crew before they head home for the day. Sasha is finishing pouring his cup of coffee when Dr. Backstrom comes through the doors.

“It’s Monday,” he says by way of greeting, and Sasha nods, sipping his cup of coffee. He salutes Sasha with his travel mug as he heads into the office he and Sasha share. Sasha trails after him. “One morning we’re going to come in here and he’s going to be curled up under his desk crying.”

“Maybe start putting Djoos on phones for Monday morning shift, and let Burky take care of getting ready to open,” Sasha suggests. “He’s calmer. I think clients could yell in his face and he’d just stare them down.”

“I trained him well,” Backy tells him, shedding his coat and tossing it over the back of his desk chair. “So switch Madison to boarding for Monday mornings and put Djoos up front?”

“You talk to Burky about it later today,” Sasha says. He shrugs out of his own jacket and hangs it on the hook behind the door then sits down in his own chair.

They sit in companionable silence sipping their coffee as the time ticks toward their 8:30 meeting. Even when there’s shouting and barking in the hallway, and the distinct sound of someone falling, Backy doesn’t move, just closes his eyes and purses his lips like he hasn’t heard anything. Sasha resists the urge to look in the hall. If he doesn’t see it, he doesn’t have to deal with it. 

Dr. Carlson bangs his fist on their door as he walks by, heading for the meeting. Sasha takes one last drink of his coffee, then gets up and follows, with Backy trailing after him. They crowd into the reception area, doctors and vet techs and kennel techs, receptionists and groomers sitting on any available surface.

As the overnight ER doc on duty the night before, Carlson gives them the rundown on what came in over the weekend, and what animals are still there, and what needs to be taken care of. Once he’s done briefing them, he and the weekend techs head out. Sasha speaks to the domestic animal techs briefly, talks to the daytime domestic animal technician crew about a couple of things he knows they have coming in, and some follow ups from the weekend before. 

Sasha also watches Burky’s face as Backy talks about one of his cases coming in later. And since Backy specializes in exotics, they see a lot of snakes come through their office.

Burky hides in boarding and grooming every single time.

The meeting wraps up and they all go their separate ways, and Burky goes to unlock the door. Sasha walks to the back to meet with Carlson to walk through the emergency cases in person. By the time they’re done, Sasha’s first appointment has arrived.

Monday mornings are a whirlwind of appointments that have been crammed in because they just can’t wait, but they weren’t exactly emergency status. Then, it’s back to back appointments without a break until it’s almost noon and Zhenya stops Sasha when he’s on his way into an exam room to ask if he wants to order anything for lunch.

He does, but he doesn’t get a chance to eat it until after 2pm, when a canceled appointment finally gives him a break. He scarfs down cold Chinese food in his office before going to make rounds with the animals who are in the treatment room.

The only ones in the treatment room are Backy and Jojo, Backy’s senior technician. There is a very large snake wrapping itself around Jojo’s forearms while Backy does… something. Sasha doesn’t know much about snakes, and he doesn’t hate them, but he doesn’t want to stick around to find out what’s going on. He’s got dogs to check on, anyway.

 

Tuesdays are definitely much calmer than Mondays at the vet office. Nicke gets to sleep in approximately fifteen minutes later, to start with, and somehow he still manages to get to the office before 8:30. He leaves his jacket and his coffee in the office and goes straight to the back to talk to their weekday overnight doctor.

When he gets to the treatment room, he finds Matt at the exam table, leaning over a cat. There’s an IV in the cat’s leg and Matt is stroking the top of it’s head.

He looks up when Nicke comes in the room, then yawns. “Rough night?” Nicke asks. He pulls up a stool and sits down across from Matt.

Matt shrugs. “Most of the night I spent sitting with this little guy,” he says. “But there’s a little girl who’s going to be very happy that she’s going to get her kitty back.”

Nicke reaches out and runs his finger down the cat’s back. “You want me to send Ovi in here when he gets here?” Nicke asks.

“Could you? I want to give him the run-down on this guy, then I’m going to call the owners before I go,” Matt explains.

“Yeah, I’ll let him know,” Nicke says, sitting there for a few minutes longer, before slipping off the stool and heading back out of the treatment room. He swings past the office to grab his coffee cup, then peeks into the lounge. Ovi’s standing near the coffee pot, talking to Kuzy.

“Morning, Backy,” Ovi says when he spots Nicke.

“Morning,” Nicke says. He pops the top off his mug and pours it full of coffee again. “Nisky’s got a cat he wants to talk to you about from overnight before you get started this morning.”

“In a minute,” Ovi says. “Just a minute.”

Nicke watches as Ovi sips his coffee, and the room is silent. Kuzy is looking back and forth between them, before he finally shakes his head and makes a noise of disgust before walking out of the room.

Just after noon, the intercom in the treatment room beeps. Nicke is finishing up a recheck on an incision site, and nods for Marcus to hit the intercom button. Marcus tugs one of his rubber gloves off and leans over to hit the button.

“Just so you know, animal control has just pulled up and Officer Latta is getting out of the truck,” Andre says, his voice crackling over the intercom. “In case you wanted to come and watch Wilson make a fool of himself.”

“Thanks,” Nicke says, and Marcus lets go of the button. “I can finish this. I’ll be up in a couple of minutes, and you can tell me anything I miss when I get there.”

Marcus peels off his other glove and throws them in the bin before heading out of the treatment room to the front desk.

By the time Nicke gets there, there are several other people standing just behind the door to the lounge, peeking through to watch Wilson the Kennel Tech flirt with Animal Control Officer Latta. Nicke finds himself standing behind Ovi, balancing himself by putting a hand on Ovi’s back.

“As good looking as that kid is, you’d think he’d have better game,” says Oshie, who is crammed in beside Ovi to peek through the door.

Marcus is out front, under the guise of talking to Djoos, who was on the desk with Andre when Animal Control came in. It’s a thin disguise, because Marcus has hoisted himself up to sit on the counter next to Djoos’s computer station, and both of them are openly watching Wilson and Latta talking.

Officer Latta is there because he’s brought a dog from the pound that’s supposed to be spayed so she’ll be adoptable, which gives Kuzy has an excuse to be out there. Wilson is making moon eyes at Latta while Latta explains to Kuzy how animal control ended up with this dog.

“I swear they went on a date last summer,” Nicke says quietly.

“They did,” Ovi whispers back. “That's why is so stupid.”

Ovi’s other lead tech, Dima, is basically sitting on the floor with Ovi leaning over him so that Dima can still see and hear what’s happening. “Kuzya’s coming, get out of the way,” Dima says, and scrambles back from the door, buffing the tile with the butt of his scrubs as he tries to get out of the way with several people keeping him from getting back to his feet.

They all retreat further into the lounge so they can't be seen from reception when Kuzya goes by with the dog. He disappears into an exam room down the hall, and they scoot back into position.

“Don’t understand how they can be so awkward but have been out on dates before,” Ovi whispers, but now Nicke has the better position, and Ovi’s whispering into Nicke’s ear. And Nicke - well, he’s got a lot of feelings that he’s been ignoring for years now, but Ovi’s mouth that close to his ear makes him have to close his eyes and take a deep breath.

No, they work together. It’s different for Wilson and Latta, because Latta doesn’t work in the office. They can flirt all they want. Nicke’s happy here. He’s not interested in making that mistake. He’s seen workplace romances go wrong before. He doesn’t want to be involved in that.

“Maybe they went badly?” Nicke suggests.

“Then why are they still flirting with each other,” Ovi asks.

“Look,” Oshie says. “I work with Tom every day. Those dates absolutely did not go bad.”

“So what you’re saying is they’re idiots?” Nicke says.

“Oh, fuck yeah,” Oshie says.

They disperse as Latta walks out of the front door, scrambling to look like they haven’t been standing around doing nothing for the last ten minutes. Oshie all but runs to get back to the kennel before Tom comes through. Nicke goes on to his next appointment.

 

Wednesday is an unmitigated disaster.

Wednesdays aren’t always a disaster, but this particular Wednesday starts badly and goes downhill even faster. For starters, Sasha oversleeps his alarm and scrapes into the office just before 9AM, with not enough time to consume the proper amount of coffee.

His first appointment should be a routine checkup for a dachshund that turns into needing scans when Sasha feels a lump in the little guy’s tummy. It’s at least going to need to be a biopsy, and it’s probably a tumor, and Sasha needs the biggest cup of coffee.

Backy brings him a cup of coffee as he’s heading into a spay later in the morning.

“Thank God,” Sasha says, cupping his hands around it and breathing in, before taking a drink. It’s full of cream and sugar and it’s perfect. He’s never loved anyone as much as he loves Backy right that instant.

“I figured you could use the help,” Backy says.

Sasha opens his mouth to say something else, but then down the hall, he hears Jojo yell, a note of panic in his voice, “Nicke? Nicke we need you, now.” And Backy goes at a run without saying anything to Sasha.

The day goes from bad to worse, when one of Sasha’s longtime patients calls and it’s an emergency, but Sasha knows in his heart that it’s going to be the animal’s final visit. He and Dima sit on the floor with the girl as Sasha gives her elderly, struggling cat an injection. She cries into Dima’s shoulder as Sasha wraps up the cat after the end.

After that appointment, he needs a break. He’s still got other appointments, but he goes to the front and signals Burky to come over, tells him to delay his next couple of appointments and let them know he’s running late. Sasha walks through the practice and out the back door, where the runs for the boarding area are.

He’s not the only one back there, and finds Jojo and Zhenya sitting on the edge of the porch. Sasha doesn’t go over to them, because Jojo’s got his head down, and Zhenya’s rubbing his hand slowly up and down Jojo’s back, speaking too quietly for Sasha to hear what he’s saying. Sasha’s sure whatever’s going on there relates back to Jojo calling Nicke away from Sasha earlier. Sasha’s not the only one having a bad day.

Sasha walks down the sidewalk back toward the kennel, a separate area from the main hospital. He lets himself in through the gate, and as soon as it clangs shut behind him, he’s treated to the music of dogs barking. Oshie’s face appears in the window of the door, and he waves at Sasha.

What Sasha wants - needs, what he needs, is to roll around with a dog. Tom finds him one, a big labrador that needs his afternoon run that Tom and TJ haven’t gotten around to yet that afternoon. Sasha takes him out, and they run, until Sasha is a little out of breath and the lab’s tongue is lolling out of his mouth. Sasha plays with him for a while longer, until he knows he absolutely has to get back to work.

Tom takes over with the lab and Sasha walks back up the path to the main building. Zhenya and Jojo have gone when he lets him back inside. He finds Zhenya in the treatment room, making rounds and checking on a kitten that had a spay that morning.

“Little guy’s family is here,” Zhenya says. “He’s awake and looks good, so once you sign off, he’ll be ready to go.”

Just before the end of the day, they get a call from animal control. Burky comes running into the treatment room, which is how Sasha knows that it’s something serious, because typically, Burky would just intercom back.

“Five kittens,” Burky says. “Two, maybe three days old. They don’t know what happened to the mom, but they need someone to take care of them while they look for a foster or a nursing mom. They want us to -”

“Nurse them,” Sasha says.

Sasha knows what bottle feeding kittens entails. And Sasha knows that it’s a big pain in the ass, and a huge undertaking. He doesn’t know how long these kittens have been away from their mom already, and Burky doesn’t have the information either. Sasha would guess that the people who found the kittens didn’t know, either, so the animal control officer who called in didn’t have the information to give.

“Okay,” Sasha says, taking a deep breath. “Five kittens, so at least one person, maybe two to stay overnight to monitor and feed babies.”

“Nisky can’t monitor?” Dima asks.

“He has other things to worry about,” Sasha says. “Not gonna give him five kittens that have to be fed and watched and made sure they’re warm and use the bathroom all the other dumb baby kitten shit. Someone volunteer.”

“I’ll do it,” Jojo says. Sasha’s surprised by that, since Jojo is Backy’s tech, and usually up to his elbows in guinea pigs and ferrets and lizards. He doesn’t normally deal with regular cats and dogs, and Sasha knows he hasn’t had the best day either.

“You want me to stay and help?” Zhenya asks.

“Only if you want to,” Jojo says. “You could also get a good night’s sleep.”

“Ehh,” Zhenya says. “It’s almost the weekend.”

“It’s Wednesday,” Backy says.

“I’ll stay too,” Zhenya says.

“Andre,” Backy says. “Tell Animal Control we’ll take the kittens and have them bring them up here.”

“We need any information they have on them, too,” Sasha says. “Make sure we have KMR in the storage room.”

“There should be an air mattress, too,” Backy says.

“Wait, really?” Dima asks.

“Yeah, Backy stayed here with that monkey a few years ago,” Sasha says.

“You stayed with that dog that one time, too,” Backy says.

“Oh yeah,” Sasha says. “Go find things. You two.” Sasha points at Jojo and Zhenya. “Dinner is on petty cash. Go get food, then come back and we’ll make sure you’re ready to … suffer.”

Zhenya laughs at that. Jojo doesn’t, and instead leaves the room. Zhenya goes up to the front desk to rummage through the petty cash box for money for dinner.

Sasha hasn’t left the office yet when they come back. He doesn’t want to leave until they’re settled in with the kittens, and Animal Control hasn’t arrived with them yet, besides. Sasha ends up setting up the air mattress in one of the larger treatment rooms, then sets up an incubator for the kittens in the room as well, because, of course, three day old kittens can’t regulate their own body temperature and have to be kept warm.

He stacks up towels on the counter, then gets distilled water and the KMR, bottles, and everything else they need. Sasha doesn’t mean to be a total mother hen about it, but he knows that bottle feeding kittens can be stressful.

He’s done setting up the treatment room when Zhenya and Jojo come back, both carrying soda cups and phone chargers. Zhenya’s got a sweatshirt thrown over his arm, and Jojo is wearing his unzipped over his scrubs. They haven’t been in the office five minutes when Animal Control pulls in.

Latta climbs out of the truck, and he’s got a cat carrier. Somehow, Tom materializes out of nowhere. He’s off for the night, so he must have waited for Latta to get here before heading out to leave. Latta gives them the kittens, and the paperwork.

“So, we don’t know where they came from, and we’re guessing that they’re two or three days old. They can’t have been away from their mom that long, but we have no idea where the mom is,” Latta explains. “The family that brought them in said they’d keep an eye out for an adult cat, but these guys were under their front porch.”

“They’re so tiny,” Tom says, peeking into the carrier. They are, in fact, tiny.

“When was the last time they ate?” Sasha asks, reaching in and picking one of them up. It opens its mouth, protesting, but it’s so tiny it doesn’t make any sound.

“Like, two hours? One of the girls at the shelter fed them before I came over here, but it took me a while to get them, and get all the paperwork, and then get here,” Latta explains.

“Okay,” Sasha says.

“Tom wants to know if you want to get dinner,” Zhenya says. Tom has absolutely not said that, but he’s at the very least smart enough not to protest, even if he does start blushing.

Latta looks stunned. He blinks a couple of times, then says, “sure? I mean, this is the last thing I have to do, so. Sure.” He rubs his hand over his hair. “I mean, I’d kind of like to take a shower first. But we could meet somewhere. Like at eight? Or I could pick you up.”

“He would love for you to pick him up,” Zhenya says. Sasha is honestly trying not to choke, he’s trying to stop from laughing so hard.

“He can _speak_ ,” Tom says, irritated. “But yes, I would love my own shower, and for you to pick me up. At eight.”

“Get out of here, you crazy kids,” Zhenya says, shoving Tom gently toward Latta. He grins with his straw stuck between his teeth. “Bring me and Jojo Starbucks later.”

“Starbucks won’t be open that late,” Jojo says.

“Or whatever,” Zhenya says, then bumps his shoulder against Jojo, nudging him toward the back. “Shitty 7/11 coffee. Bring us coffee, is what I’m telling you.”

“No, bring us candy,” Jojo says. He has his free hand stuffed in his pocket and he’s following Zhenya into the back.

“Jojo needs Swedish fish,” Zhenya yells as they pass through the staff-only door into the back.

“I don’t even _like_ Swedish fish,” Sasha hears Jojo say as the door swings shut behind them.

“Go,” Sasha says to Latta and Tom. “I’ve got the kittens.”

He takes the kittens into the back and into the treatment room. He wants to check them, and talk to Nisky about what would need to happen if anything starts to go wrong. He trusts that Zhenya and Jojo can handle feeding five kittens overnight, and then tomorrow they can look for a foster who can take care of them, or a mama cat who is nursing who might take them, but Sasha wants to make sure that if anything does go wrong, the doctor on call is ready.

Once that’s taken care of, he brings the kittens back to the treatment room. Zhenya is doing something with the temperature of the incubator, and Jojo is carefully measuring the KMR.

“Your kittens, babes,” he tells them, putting the carrier down on the counter. Jojo wordlessly hands Zhenya a bottle, and Zhenya reaches into the crate and pulls out one of the kittens. Sasha watches for a couple of moments, until the kitten is feeding and then he’s out, and off for the night. “Text me if anything goes wrong,” he says, as he heads out the door.

 

On Thursday, Nicke comes in early, just after 8, sure that he’s going to be spending his day with only one technician. He was texting with Marcus until pretty late, when Marcus had finally said that they were going to try and catch some sleep between feedings.

He knocks on the door of the treatment room before he lets himself in. What he actually finds is two technicians curled up around each other on an air mattress. Marcus’s head is tucked in underneath Kuzy’s chin, Marcus’s sweatshirt balled up as a pillow under their heads, and Kuzy’s arm is thrown around Marcus’s waist. They’re dead asleep, and Kuzy is snoring softly.

Nicke turns and almost runs into Ovi on his way out of the room, getting stuck halfway out the door with the basket of dirty kitten laundry. He catches sight of the look on Ovi’s face as he’s trying to get out the door without making much noise and waking the techs, who, honestly, probably deserve a little bit of extra sleep after nursing and monitoring kittens through the night.

“They a thing?” Ovi asks quietly, nodding his head toward the door once it’s closed.

“You know I don’t like inter-office romance,” Nicke says.

“You can’t stop the course of true love,” Ovi says. “I saw Zhenya comforting Jojo outside yesterday. Maybe they’re good for each other.”

“Yesterday was a rough day,” Nicke says.

“No fucking joke,” Ovi says. “Not my best day either. You gonna let them be?”

“Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean I’m gonna break people up,” Nicke says. “So whatever. I just would prefer for you or I not to lose a good technician because they break up and don’t want to be in each other’s space.”

“No, they’re good, they’re adults,” Ovi says.

“You think that, but people do bullshit when they’re upset,” Nicke says.

“They’re on different teams, don’t work together that much,” Ovi says. “Let them do whatever they’re gonna do. You know Zhenya made Tom ask Latta out last night?”

“Wait, what?” Nicke asks, as he’s dumping the basket of towels into the laundry room.

“Well, what actually happened was that Latta dropped off the kittens, and Zhenya just said, Tom wants to know if you wanna get dinner, so they went. Or they were gonna go, both of them went home to shower. Zhenya and Jojo said to bring them candy, but I don’t know if Tom and Latta came back with it.”

Nicke closes his eyes and shakes his head. Everything in this office is ridiculous.

“O,” Nisky yells down the hall. “Can we have a few minutes before I head out?”

Ovi pats Nicke on the shoulder before turning to head down the hall. “Everyone’s happier when they’re getting laid,” he says, before following Nisky into the treatment room.

They lost one of the kittens, in the night. Nisky had tried, but there wasn’t anything he could do to save a three day old kitten, already so fragile. The other four kittens are eating and as healthy as can be expected, and they have a couple of options - a foster that has a mother cat who has a five day old litter of three, who may be able to take on the four kittens. As a backup option, they have a potential foster for the kittens.

The foster will be by in the afternoon, and in the meantime, there are other techs and kennel staff who can help with bottle feeding during the day. Nicke and Ovi decide to just send Kuzy and Marcus home to get actual sleep. Part of it, too, is that Nicke thinks that Marcus needs to get away from the office for a while. He’s taking losing the kitten particularly badly, after the day before.

“It’s not your fault,” Ovi says, when Nicke pulls them both into the office after their alarm goes off and they’ve given the kittens the first feeding of the morning. “The entire time you’ve been here, I’ve never seen a single animal die that has ever been your fault.”

“It’s just a bad day, Mackan,” Nicke says. “We all have that day every once in a while where everything goes wrong and you want to just… quit. Walk away and find a new profession. I’ve been there.”

“I was there yesterday, too,” Ovi says. “And I’ve been there before, and I’m sure that I’ll be there again in the future.”

Marcus looks like he’s going to cry. At least, Nicke thinks so, as he’s standing there with his hands shoved into the pockets of - well, it’s Kuzy’s sweatshirt, Nicke is pretty sure, the one Kuzy had on earlier when they were asleep on the air mattress - and his head tilted down, staring at the floor. Kuzy is sitting on the edge of Ovi’s desk, and reaches out a foot and nudges Marcus’s shin with it.

“Go home and get some sleep,” Nicke says. “Losing the ferret wasn’t your fault, losing the kitten wasn’t your fault. Between you and me, and between you and Dr. Niskanen, we did everything we could do for them. We tried. And you’ll feel better after you get some decent sleep where you’re not waking up every five minutes worrying about the kittens.”

“Okay,” Marcus says. Ovi reaches out and shoves Kuzy from the back, pushing him off the desk.

“Hug your boyfriend and take him home,” Ovi says. Kuzy makes a face at him, and reaches out to wrap his arms around Marcus.

“No don’t,” Marcus says, dodging out of Kuzy’s reach. “I’m gonna start crying if you do and I’m not gonna cry at work.”

“Mackan, please go home,” Nicke says.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Marcus says, dodging around Nicke toward the door of the office.

“If he won’t let you hug him, at least buy him breakfast,” Ovi says.

“On it,” Kuzy says, following Marcus out.

Thursday is otherwise a quiet day compared to the way Wednesday went. The only interesting thing that happens on Thursday is the boa constrictor that comes in. It belongs to a friend of Nicke’s, and is extremely friendly, riding around on Lars’s shoulders as he walks through the hallway on his way from an exam room to treatment.

Andre happens to be in the hallway at the same time, and he nearly faints at the sight of Lars coming toward him with a snake draped around his shoulders. Unfortunately for Andre, who had sought solace in the back when the snake had come through the doors, but then it had been in a carrier. Lars follows him to the front desk.

“Nooo, why are you following me?” Andre asks. “I don’t deserve this.”

“Her name is Eve and she’s eggbound and you’re being rude,” Lars says.

Djoos is the other assistant on the desk, and reaches a hand out slowly toward the snake. She scents him, then slithers down Lars’s arm and onto Djoos’s. Djoos makes eye contact with Andre while it happens. Andre turns and heads back into the hall.

“Nicke!” he yells. “They’re being mean to me out here.”

“Stop being such a baby about snakes then,” Nicke says, stepping into the doorway. “Stop fucking around out there with the snake and get back in here. Just because she loves you doesn’t mean you can torture Andre with her.”

“Even if he’s a big baby,” Djoos says.

“Yes,” Nicke says. Lars takes the snake back from Djoos and heads back into the hallway toward the treatment room.

As the door is swinging shut, Nicke hears Djoos say “I’m gonna put my snake hands all over you,” then Andre squealing as, Nicke assumes, Djoos then attempts to do so.

His children are out of hand.

The foster mom of the nursing mama cat comes in late in the afternoon, and Nicke makes a point to slip out to the front to listen to Ovi to talk to her about them. The mother is a gray tabby with a couple of calico babies curled up next to her in her carrier. She purrs when Ovi reaches in to scratch her head.

“You’re welcome to come back to the treatment room, and we’re gonna try and see if she’ll let them nurse,” Ovi tells the foster mom. Nicke follows them back to the treatment room as well, and he puts the carrier with the mama cat on the counter.

He reaches in and picks up one of the kittens, then hands it to Nicke. Nicke doesn’t love kittens, because they’re kind of gross once you get to know them, or spend any time around them. They’re only cute for the three weeks between when they’re unable to move and when they really figure out how to get around and can get themselves into trouble. Nicke works with exotics for a reason.

Ovi hands the other two kittens to the foster mom, and then sets about moving Jojo and Kuzy’s four kittens into the mama cat’s carrier. He watches them as they stumble around across the padding in the carrier, and even Nicke holds his breath as the mama takes an experimental lick at one of them.

It works. Somehow, it works, and Nicke can’t help but feel totally relieved. He gives the kitten back to Ovi, who gives her back to her mother. Nicke heads out of the room. He has some paperwork that he has to work through, and a few calls that he needs to make, but he needs to do rechecks on a few animals before then. So it’s the treatment room, then the office.

He’s just sat down in his chair when Ovi pops his head in. “I’m heading out early,” he says. “I’ve got paperwork but I’ll get to it tomorrow.”

“Got a hot date?” Nicke asks, just as a joke.

“Not exactly,” Ovi says. “But I’m meeting Zhenya for dinner.”

It’s weird, Nicke guesses, that Ovi would be meeting Kuzy for dinner when they see each other every single day, but he doesn’t say anything about that. All he says is, “have fun.”

He stops after a while to text Marcus and let him know that the kittens are nursing from the mama cat, and then asks how he is. Marcus texts back, and says that he’s glad the kittens are ok.

He sends Nicke a picture of himself sitting - well, lying - on his couch with a beer. He’s leaned up against Kuzy, who is flashing a peace sign and not wearing a shirt. It’s more of Kuzy than Nicke’s ever seen, and he’s a little mad that Marcus has sent him this photo. They look cute.

Then Nicke remembers that Ovi said that he was going to dinner with Zhenya.

He sends the picture to Ovi.

 _cute_ , Ovi responds. _good for each other._

 _thought you were going to dinner with kuzy?_ Nicke sends back.

_no, with Zhenya. Vet school Zhenya._

Ah, Nicke thinks. Vet school Zhenya.

Nicke leaves the office and goes home, at that. He knows he’s not going to concentrate on anything else for the rest of the evening, so he might as well head home. Because he has to admit to himself that he’s jealous. He’s jealous that Ovi is out with his vet school roommate. His vet school boyfriend. An ex-boyfriend.

Not flirting with Ovi, or acting on his attraction is self-imposed. Nicke doesn’t have any idea if his feelings are reciprocated, and he’s promised himself that he won’t do anything about it. It’s his rule - no dating someone in the workplace, just like how he wishes that Marcus and Kuzy weren’t dating.

Except his friend - because he does think of Marcus as a friend - is happy, and Nicke is jealous that Ovi is going to dinner with someone he used to date.

Nicke has fucked all of this up, immensely.

 

Backy is in a bad mood when Sasha comes in on Friday.

Zhenya comes with him - Sasha introduces him as Geno, so that everyone has something else to call him to keep him from being confused with the other Zhenya in the office, even though most of them call that Zhenya Kuzy anyway. Some of the team have met Geno before, when he’s been to visit. Some of the newer employees, like Djoos at the desk and Vrana in the grooming salon or Madison at the boarding desk are newer, and haven’t met him.

Backy is in a bad mood and may be literally avoiding Sasha. He’s definitely avoiding Geno, because every time Geno walks into a room, Nicke walks out of it unless he absolutely can’t leave. Geno consults on a few cases, and spends a few minutes playing with the kittens, who are fortunately still being fed by their new adopted mother.

“I’m going to send them back out with the foster mom, I think,” Sasha says to Zhenya “Unless you think Jojo gonna be mad his kittens are gone.”

“He’s not gonna adopt them,” Zhenya says. He pulls a hand away from a kitten and looks at Sasha a little wide eyed. “I don’t think?”

“Will you… ask him?” Sasha says.

“I’m not gonna live with four kittens, Sasha,” Zhenya says. Both of Sasha’s eyebrows go up.

“ _You’re_ not?” Sasha asks. “Are you going to be living there?”

“We’ve talked about it,” Zhenya says, and shrugs.

“I didn’t even know you two were dating until yesterday,” Sasha says.

“Like, for the future,” Zhenya says. “Like you think four kittens just gonna disappear in a few months?”

“I didn’t realize you guys were, you know, serious,” Sasha says.

Zhenya is blushing. Geno is not saying anything, but he is listening. “I don’t want to talk about this,” Zhenya says. “Not right now.”

“Ask him if he’s gonna take a kitten,” Sasha tells him.

“Don’t you dare try and give him all four,” Zhenya says, turning to leave the kittens and get back to work.

“They still gonna go to the foster though,” Sasha calls after him. Zhenya just flaps his hand through the air.

“You got a lot going on here,” Geno says. He’s got one hand in the cage with the cats, and the mama is demanding that he scratch her head. She’s very imperious.

“Apparently,” Sasha says.

In the afternoon, Sasha and Geno walk into the treatment room to find several of the Swedes having a heated conversation - in Swedish. There are a lot of them in the office who speak different languages. Sasha speaks to Zhenya and Dima in Russian most of the time while it’s just the three of them working. DC is just a very international place, so naturally they’re an international operation.

Nothing good has ever happened when three quarters of the Swedes have gathered in the treatment room and are speaking Swedish. Sasha has learned this from experience. Backy looks pissed off and Jojo is leaned against the counter with his arms crossed, and Sasha’s pretty sure that this is the most consecutive words he’s ever heard Djoos say at one time, even if he can’t understand what’s being said.

“What’s going on?” Geno asks, his voice too loud, because he has no tact. Sasha wants to choke him, because three heads swivel in his direction and it reminds Sasha a little bit of some kind of weird, horrible mythological monster with three heads that he doesn’t want to be involved with, even if only two of the heads are scary and the third one is just kind of annoyed.

If Sasha’s going to have to fight them he definitely wants it to be Jojo, because he feels a little like the other two are going to murder him just with the looks their giving him right now.

Backy says something, and Djoos throws his hands up and walks out of the room. Jojo sighs and looks at the ceiling as Backy turns on his heel and walks out of the room.

“What is going on here?” Sasha asks, confused.

“Please go talk to him,” Jojo says, as Lars walks into the room looking bewildered.

“What the hell?” he says, looking at Jojo. Jojo says something in Swedish, which makes Lars roll his eyes.

“Right now?” Sasha asks.

“Please,” Jojo says. Lars steps past him to one of the cages to get one of the animals, and Sasha turns to head to find Backy. Geno turns to follow him. “No offense, Geno” Jojo says, “But it’s definitely not a conversation you need to be there for.”

Geno blinks, stunned. Sasha’s a little surprised, himself, because it’s borderline rude, and Sasha’s never seen that from Jojo before.

“Sorry,” Jojo says, then busies himself helping Lars with the animals. Sasha sighs and leaves Geno there.

Sasha finds Backy in the storage room, digging through one of the shelves for something. Sasha’s honestly not sure what.

“Jojo said I need to talk to you,” Sasha says.

“How was dinner with Geno?” Backy asks.

“It was fine?” Sasha says, confused. “I don’t understand why that - is that what you’re pissed off about?”

“I’m not pissed off,” Backy says. 

“I’ve worked with you long enough to know when you’re pissed off,” Sasha says. “So don’t lie to me about you being pissed off. You’ve been mad since I came in this morning.”

“Okay, fine,” Backy says. “Are you seeing Geno?”

“What do you mean?” Sasha says.

“Are you dating him?” Backy asks.

“No,” Sasha says, frowning. “He’s got a serious girlfriend back home. He’s just in town for a few days and we grabbed dinner, and asked if he wanted to come in and consult because he had time to kill.”

“Okay, well, I didn’t want to admit this, because I want you to know that I still think that dating someone you work with is a terrible idea, and yes, Marcus does know this,” Backy says, all in a rush. “But I am attracted to you. I have been. And I know that Geno’s your ex, and that you lived together at university and that’s a whole thing - “

“Backy,” Sasha says, a little overwhelmed. “He’s my ex, but that’s - we’ve moved on with our lives. He’s a friend, now, and he’s not that good in bed anyway.” Sasha smiles, hoping that making the joke will soothe ruffled feathers. Backy is still frowning.

“That’s not the point,” Backy says.

“I’m not dating Geno,” Sasha says. “Or sleeping with him. And I don’t really want to. And Zhenya has been up my ass to say something to you for months, because I was an idiot and said something to him about wanting to ask you out.”

“But you didn’t,” Backy says.

“No, I didn’t, because I know you don’t date inside the workplace,” Sasha says. “You have been very clear about that.”

“I think it’s a bad idea,” Backy says.

“So what do you want, Nick?” Sasha asks.

“You,” Backy says.

“Even though it’s against your rules,” Sasha says.

“My rules are clearly being broken, whether I like it or not,” Backy says.

“Do you want to go to dinner?” Sasha asks.

“Yes,” Backy says.

“Zhenya leaves tomorrow morning,” Sasha says. “So what about tomorrow night?”

“Because you make it so appealing bringing Zhenya up,” Backy says.

“He’s my friend,” Sasha says. “And he’s also staying at my house, so I’m not gonna go out on a date and just. Leave him to hang around my house with my dogs.”

“He would probably love to hang out with your dogs,” Backy says.

“If you wanna go tonight he could come with us,” Sasha says.

“Well, I hate that idea, so no,” Backy says. “Tomorrow night.”

“Then at least, you know, you’ll have had the day off and have lots of energy,” Sasha says.

“What do I need lots of energy for?” Backy says.

“I don’t know, maybe you put out on the first date, I don’t know your life,” Sasha says.

“Oh my God, get out of here,” Backy says. “I have to find this tubing.”

“Also please call off your Scandinavian mafia,” Sasha says. “They’re being very mean to me. Jojo was actually rude to Geno.”

“You should hear the things he says about you,” Backy says.

“He loves me,” Sasha says, opening the door to go out of the storage room.

“Yeah, he does,” Backy says. “If he’s free send him in here, I need to know if he thinks that we can rig something up with this.”

Sasha waves and lets the door bang shut as he heads down the hall to find Jojo.

 

Nicke spends most of the morning on Saturday in bed.

It’s been a long week, and he’s glad that it’s the weekend. He knows that he needs to get up and go to the gym, and he keeps telling himself he’s going to do it, but then suddenly it’s nearly one and he’s still sprawled across his mattress.

He forces himself up and into his gym clothes. He’s got several text messages, some from Ovi - the foster mom has messaged him to let him know that things are still going well with the adopted mama cat and the kittens - and others from Marcus, who seems to be at some kind of farmer’s market that involves a very small goat.

 _do not adopt the goat_ , Nicke texts him back, then heads out to hit the gym.

He grabs carryout for lunch on the way home after his workout. He eats at the kitchen counter, texting with Marcus about the fact that - actually, he’s really going on a date with Ovi. That’s a thing that’s happening. They’re going out to dinner together.

Marcus is making fun of him, which Nicke guesses is probably fair.

Nicke isn’t sure what they’re doing for dinner, but he figures it won’t be too formal. It’ll be nice to actually see Ovi out of his scrubs. Nicke can’t remember the last time that he was out with any of his coworkers - maybe the Christmas party, the year before, when they all got together.

The sun is setting when he leaves his house, casually dressed in slacks and a button down, sleeves rolled back over his forearms even though he knows that they’ll stick in the sleeves of his jacket. Ovi is idling in Nicke’s driveway, and Nicke slides into the passenger seat. The car smells a little bit like wet dog.

“How are the kittens?” Nicke asks, because he hasn’t had any other updates from Ovi about the kittens. Ovi himself is wearing jeans and a sweater. He looks warm. He looks like Nicke wants to curl up against him and hold on.

“Oh, foster mom says that they’re still eating, and the adopted mom’s kittens are doing well too,” Ovi says. “Zhenya says that he had to physically stop Jojo from adopting a baby goat today.”

“I told Jojo not to adopt the goat,” Nicke says.

“Well, he wanted the goat, but Zhenya pointed out that both of them live in apartments, so where is the goat gonna graze or whatever?” Ovi says. “I don’t know anything about goats, you’re the expert on goats.”

“I’m not an expert on goats,” Nicke says. “I know some things about goats.”

“Okay but you probably can’t housebreak a goat,” Ovi says. “So they need a yard.”

“I still can’t believe that there’s a they,” Nicke says. “I don’t know about them adopting goats together.”

“Maybe Jojo gonna make goat cheese,” Ovi says.

Nicke laughs. “I doubt it,” Nicke says. “Where are we going for dinner? I’m guessing I’m not over or under dressed?”

“No, you’re fine,” Ovi says. “You like Indian food?”

Nicke must make some kind of noise, or some kind of face that betrays the fact that no, he doesn’t really like Indian food.

“We can get something else,” Ovi says. “I’m not picky. Sushi?”

“No,” Nicke says, making a face. “Is that even date food?”

“I used to go on sushi dates with Zhenya all the time in university,” Ovi says.

“I’m going to pretend you’re talking about Kuzy because I don’t like the alternative,” Nicke says. “Let’s go get pasta.”

“Simple man of simple tastes,” Ovi says.

“Fuck off,” Nicke says. Ovi reaches over and takes hold of Nicke’s hand.

“I’m glad you finally decided to break your rule,” Ovi says. “Your no dating rule.”

Nicke laughs. “Me too,” he says. “I think.”

Dinner goes well. At the start, they both try and ban shop talk from the table, but the two of them are honestly so entrenched in what they do for a living that it’s hard for them to not talk about it, at least part of the time. They talk about Ovi’s dogs, why Nicke doesn’t keep animals at home. Ovi tells him how long he’s had a crush on Nicke, and Nicke feels his ears go hot with embarrassment.

They talk about Kuzy and Marcus, and how they’re dating, and how long that’s been going on. Ovi doesn’t know, but he suspects it’s a lot longer than either of them could have guessed - Ovi tells Nicke about Kuzy talking about him and Marcus potentially moving in together. They talk about Tom and Animal Control Officer Latta, and how Kuzy bullied them into going on a date. Ovi doesn’t know the outcome of that, but he offers to text Kuzy to see if he knows. Nicke waves it off, but Ovi shoots off a text anyway.

They do talk about themselves, a bit, but they’ve worked with each other for years. It’s not a relationship-level intimacy, but they know each other. They’re friends. Nicke has thought of Ovi as a friend for a while. Nicke would bribe Ovi with beer and pizza to help Nicke move, if he needed to move.

They get ice cream on the way home, even though it’s chilly outside, and sit in Nicke’s driveway as they eat it. “You wanna come in?” Nicke finally asks.

“Thought you said you weren’t gonna put out on the first date,” Ovi says.

“I never said that,” Nicke says. “I told you to get out of the storage closet after you said it.”

Ovi laughs at that, his voice loud in the enclosed space of the car. Nicke likes the way his head tips back, the way the street lights glint off his teeth, the way they emphasize the missing space where Ovi’s front tooth is gone.

Nicke drops his ice cream cup into the cupholder, and leans over, reaching out and sliding his fingers along Ovi’s jaw, tilting Ovi’s face back, and down, until Ovi is looking at him. Nicke leans over and presses their mouths together, soft. Ovi tastes like peanut butter, from his ice cream, and his mouth is cold.

Ovi fumbles to drop his own ice cream cup into the holder, and slides his fingers into Nicke’s hair, lets Nicke’s curls tangle around his fingers as they kiss. They stay there, kissing, their hands tangled in each other’s hair, their mouths warming up against each other as Ovi’s car idles in Nicke’s driveway.

“You should come inside,” Nicke says.

“Yeah,” Ovi says. He turns off the car then, and picks up his ice cream to get out of the car. “Promise me that you won’t think less of me in the morning?”

This time it’s Nicke’s turn to laugh, a wild, loud bark with all his teeth showing. They get out of the car and head up Nicke’s front walk, and he lets them into the house. They finish their ice cream in Nicke’s kitchen, what little they have left mostly melted from their makeout delay in the car.

They leave their empty ice cream cups sitting on the counter and Ovi follows Nicke down the hall to his bedroom.

 

On Sunday morning, the sunshine cuts through the blinds in Backy’s bedroom and falls across Sasha’s face, waking him up. He likes Backy’s bed. It’s comfortable, and it has Backy in it. Backy, who is currently stretched out on his stomach, his face turned away from Sasha, his hair a tangle of golden curls on the pillow in the sunshine.

Sasha feels his heart constrict, and then he feels like an idiot.

He rolls over, slides his hand along Backy’s bare skin, skating his fingers along Backy’s spine, up toward those curls. Backy shifts, turns his head to look at Sasha, one arm trapped underneath his chest. He smiles.

Sasha leans in and presses a kiss to Backy’s forehead, to the tops of his cheekbones.

“Let me take you for breakfast,” he says.

Sasha borrows a t-shirt from Backy that doesn’t quite fit him, that hangs a little too short to Sasha’s waist where he’s taller than Backy. He pulls a hoodie on over it when they get out to his car, even though it’s covered in dog fur.

“Sexy,” Backy says, like he doesn’t have his own share of clothes covered in animal fur. Sasha gives him the finger, because honestly.

They get breakfast together and sit in companionable silence for a while, while Backy sips his coffee and Sasha checks the messages on his phone. Their feet rest together just to the side of the metal pole that holds up the booth table, and Backy watches Sasha over the top of his coffee cup as he sips and Sasha scrolls.

He has a message from Zhenya, saying that he made it back to Pittsburgh, and that he and his practice are all in one piece. He has a message from the Other Zhenya, asking about the kittens. He downloads snaps from the foster mom and sends them back over to Zhenya.

“How are the boys this morning?” Backy asks. Sasha’s pretty sure that Backy could answer this question himself, since he probably has just as many texts from Jojo as Sasha has from Zhenya.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” Sasha tells him. “Zhenya and Jojo buying a cow right now, gonna quit the practice and run away and make cheese.”

“Neat,” Backy says.

They finish breakfast together, and Sasha takes Backy back home. They sit in the car again for a while, in front of Backy’s house, kissing in his driveway.

“I gotta go do laundry,” Backy finally says. “Sunday is laundry day.”

Sasha laughs at him. “Yeah,” he says. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Backy kisses him one last time before getting out of the car and heading into his house.

 

Monday is Monday again.

Nicke gets there early, and there’s already a client in the parking lot. It’s Djoos’s first day on the admin desk for a Monday morning, and he seems to be spending most of it with this woman screaming in his face rather than actually prepping anything for the day. To his credit, Djoos is standing there with a blank look on his face while she shrieks.

“Good morning,” Nicke says, as he punches in his code to let himself in the door. “Can I speak to you for a moment.” He looks at the woman. “It’ll be just a moment and I’ll get this resolved.”

Djoos slips back inside with Nicke, leaving the woman standing locked outside, staring at them through the glass.

“What the hell was that?” he asks.

“She swears her appointment was for 8:30 a.m.,” Djoos says. “I told her we don’t have anything but emergencies prior to 9 a.m., but she wouldn’t listen. And then she started yelling when I wouldn’t let her in or get anyone else, so - “ Djoos shrugs.

“Did you look her up?” Nicke asks.

“No, I didn’t get the chance,” Djoos says. “She just started in yelling before I could ask what time her appointment was.”

“Okay,” Nicke says. “Go look her up really quickly, and I’ll let her know what time it actually is.”

Nicke waits for a moment while Djoos taps a few keys.

“She has a grooming appointment,” Djoos says. “That’s what’s at 8:30. She kept insisting it was Vet. I even said - “

Nicke is shaking his head and letting himself out the door rather than listening to Djoos finish. “Ma’am,” he says. “You have a grooming appointment. So if you take this walkway around the side of the building, you’ll find the doors to the grooming salon. That’s where you need to be.”

The woman stomps off, and Nicke lets himself back into the office. Djoos is already on the intercom with the reception desk in the grooming salon, warning them, when they hear the woman come through to grooming. Jakub must leave the intercom pressed, because they hear him greet the woman, and they hear her start in yelling at him.

“Why wouldn’t they tell me to come back here? Why is this not easier to find,” she screeches.

“Um,” they hear Jakub say. “They’re not open, up front, so maybe they don’t know -”

“Well they should know! They should know that if I come in and I say I have an appointment for 8:30 they should know to send me back here and not just tell me they aren’t open at 8:30!” Her voice is probably waking the dogs in the boarding area at this point.

“But they aren’t open at 8:30,” Jakub says. “Why would they know that?”

“Oh, babe, you can’t reason with this,” Djoos says under his breath. Nicke manages to stifle a snort.

“It’s their job to know that,” the woman says. “Their job.”

“Okay,” Jakub says. “Technically they’re a separate business? And they’re not open? He didn’t even have to talk to you?”

Djoos groans. That was definitely the wrong thing to say.

“Where is your manager?” the woman demands.

“Holts,” they hear Jakub say. “Can you come up front please?”

It takes a couple of minutes, but they hear Holtby’s voice join the fray. “Can I help you?”

“I cannot believe,” the woman begins, “the way I’ve been treated this morning. First, I’m told that you’re not open - “ Jakub tries to say something, but the woman speaks over him. “Then this one has the nerve to tell me that they don’t have to talk to me.”

“They are a separate business,” Holtby says. “They do have our schedule in the event someone shows up at the wrong entrance, but if you show up there and tell them you have an appointment, they assume that you mean a veterinary appointment, and they’re not open before nine.”

“Then why not tell me that I have a grooming appointment,” the woman screeches.

“How Chris gonna know that?” Jakub says. Nicke’s glance flicks to Djoos, who is almost chewing on his fist trying not to laugh. His face is red. Nicke reaches out and hits the intercom button.

“He did try to tell her that she might have a grooming appointment,” Nicke says.

“I will never, ever bring my dog here again,” she says.

“Honestly, that’s fine,” Holtby says. “I don’t appreciate my colleagues and employees being screamed at. There’s a way to handle things like this, and it never involves screaming.”

They hear her storm out, and in a few moments, they see her getting into her car and peeling out of the parking lot.

“The customer is not always right,” Djoos says, sitting down in his chair and putting on his headset. He swivels to look at Nicke. “Can I skip the meeting to work on this paperwork? Otherwise we’re gonna be behind before we even get started.”

“Do what you gotta do,” Nicke says. He looks at his watch - it’s 8:25, and Ovi is strolling through the door.

“You piss someone off already?” he asks.

“Holts did,” Nicke says. “Well, actually, it was a long string of Djoos pissing her off, then me, then V, then Holts. But ultimately: Holtby.”

“She must have been a delight,” Ovi says.

“There was a lot of yelling,” Nicke says.

“Coffee?” Ovi asks.

“Sure,” Nicke says, and slips his hand into Ovi’s as they walk into the staff room.

 

They have the staff holiday party the Saturday before Christmas, and book a party room at a local restaurant. The dress code is casual, but festive, which means that Sasha shows up in an ugly Christmas sweater, and he makes Nicke wear a Santa hat.

They’re the first ones there, because they’re in charge of decorations, along with Holtby and Oshie. Holtby is the only one of them with any real sense of decor aesthetic, so the room really looks like an explosion of metallic garlands and strings of lights. Oshie spends ten minutes trying to tack a sprig of mistletoe to one of the ceiling beams over the major walkway between the tables in their party room. Sasha just knows that it’s going to backfire on them at some point in the night. At least their first arrival, Grubi, who works with Holtby and seems to know the game, dodges the mistletoe as he takes pictures of them with his camera.

Sasha reaches out and pulls Nicke under the mistletoe, then kisses him. The flash of the camera illuminates them. “Don’t put that on the company Facebook,” Nicke says, pointing his finger at Grubi, who tries to make an innocent face before he starts laughing.

“No, send it to me for my Facebook,” Sasha says.

“Oh, are we gonna be Facebook official?” Nicke asks him.

“If you want to?” Sasha says. Nicke grins, and kisses him again.

The rest of their crew filters in over the next half hour. Sasha and Nicke spends a solid two minutes trying to flag Holtby down when Djoos and Jakub the grooming desk kid get stopped under the mistletoe together, and Jakub slips Djoos tongue so hard that half the room starts cheering.

Holtby walks over and plops down at the table next to them.

“Is that a thing?” Nicke asks, gesturing at where Djoos and Jakub have joined Madison and Burky and are all chatting over their drinks. Djoos’s arm is slung low around Jakub’s waist.

“Djoos actually helped V get the job,” Holtby says. “He was like, hey, my boyfriend needs a job and he’s a grooming apprentice and - well, I figured I’d take him on. I like him.”

“We’re extremely un-observant, apparently,” Sasha says, taking a sip of his drink.

“I mean,” Holtby says. “Djoos is not a super extroverted person. So I don’t think I’d know if he hadn’t asked me from the point of, you know, helping his boyfriend get a job. I do know they come in and leave together.”

“So Djoos has been getting to the office at like, 7 a.m. every day?” Nicke asks.

“I think so?” Holtby says. “I mean, I think they only have one car, so they come in together. They live together, too.”

“Huh,” Nicke says.

“They’re cute, let them live,” Sasha says, nudging Nicke’s feet with his own.

“I’m not not letting them live,” Nicke says. “Oh, speaking of letting people live, here come the newlyweds.”

He means Jojo and Kuzy, who have just arrived, and have stopped to talk to Lars by the door, while they’re getting drinks.

“They didn’t get married,” Holtby says, frowning, slightly confused.

“Nah, but only because they can’t take time off work to elope to Vegas,” Nicke says, finishing off his beer. “They’re cute, it’s gross. I’m going to get another beer.”

“Get me another drink, too,” Sasha says. Nicke leans down and kisses Sasha and walks away.

The most exciting thing that happens at the party is that Tom shows up with Animal Control Officer Latta. It’s almost like a hush falls over the party. Forget whoever else at the office is dating, the great saga of Animal Control Officer Latta and Actual Idiot Kennel Tech Tom Wilson is live.

It’s Sasha’s moment.

He calls to Tom, and waves them over toward where he’s sitting with Nicke and Holtby. The only way to get there is by walking down the main aisle-way of the room. Where the mistletoe is, because the auxiliary aisles are blocked by the kids on one side, and Jojo and Lars on the other.

It means that Tom has to pass under the mistletoe. With Animal Control Officer Latta.

“Mistletoe,” Oshie belows out of nowhere, the second they get underneath it.

Both Tom and Latta freeze. They look at each other.

“Mistletoe,” someone else yells. Sasha thinks that it might be Dima, but he’s not sure.

They watch as Tom and Latta look at each other. Latta says something, a slight movement of his lips that Sasha isn’t close enough to hear what he says. Tom is blushing.

Latta leans up on his toes and kisses Tom. It’s soft and chaste. It’s boring. Someone boos them.

Tom grabs Latta by the front of his shirt and kisses him. Really kisses him.

The room bursts into cheers.

Later, they play Dirty Santa, and everyone fights over a huge bottle of liquor that Sasha is sure is just going to taste like gasoline once they finally get it open, but it ends up with Vrana when he and Djoos team up. Someone has brought in a pair of edible underwear, which end up on Kuzy’s head. Sasha really isn’t that surprised.

Nicke leaves with Sasha at the end of the night, and Sasha drives them both back to Nicke’s. Nicke’s got a Christmas tree in his front window, all lit up. Sasha likes that Nicke is secretly into that kind of thing.

“I have a present for you if you come in,” Nicke says. “Unless you want to wait until Orthodox Christmas for it.”

“Depends on what it is,” Sasha says.

Nicke laughs. “It’s not a surprise if I tell you,” he says. Sasha leans across the console to kiss him.

“I love you,” Sasha says. He hasn’t said it before, but he means it now. Nicke looks at him, a little surprised, a little wide-eyed. He honestly doesn’t expect Nicke to say it back, either.

Nicke leans forward and kisses Sasha once more. “I love you, too,” he says.

Sasha smiles, and they get out of the car and head inside Nicke’s house.


	2. Artwork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> art by woods_gossip @ dreamwidth.org. please tell them how beautiful this is.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on twitter @ notedgoon where i'm just having a lot of feelings all the time


End file.
